Our Choices Define Us
by PicturesqueNightmare
Summary: Harry's summer before sixth year had a huge effect on him. When he returns to Hogwarts, he is totally changed. Harry's no longer the Goldenboy, but independent kid with a new perspective of his life. HD!SLASH MajorOC FullSumInside! Being redone...again.
1. Going Back AKA Prologue

Full Summary: Harry's summer before sixth year had a huge effect on him. When he returns to Hogwarts, he is totally changed. Harry is no longer the Goldenboy, but independent kid with a new perspective of his life and Dumbledore. He no longer trusts Dumbledore and most of the Weasley's due to their deceit. With his new friend, Emily Alarice (an American transfer student), he comes into his true self. SLASH!!! H/D. Ron,Hermione, and Dumbledore **will** be bashed. OOC-ness on many accounts. Emily (an OC, obliviously) will have a HUGE part in this story!!

A/N: **READ IT!** I'm redoing this story. Again. I seem to have a problem with keeping up with this story. I really like this plotline, though, and I don't intend to abandon it. I don't have a beta and I don't want a beta. I'll look out for mistakes as best I can, but when I miss one, feel free to tell me what it is. I'm making adjustments on Emily and her part in the story. Mostly, though, it's going to be the same as it was the second posting of it. I'll probably change the title of it, I'll give you a heads up, so watch out for that. Please review, I had quite a lot before and it was very hard parting with them. Well, anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter One: Going Back AKA Prologue

Harry looked at himself in the mirror. It was now September 1st and time to return to Hogwarts for his sixth year. Normally he'd be dying to get back to the place that he called home, but so many things had changed and these changes made him sad to say goodbye.

He looked over as his friend Emily skidded to a stop in the bathroom doorway and leaned against the doorjamb. "Harrister, let's go! If you don't stop fantasizing about yourself, we'll be late." She was a tall blonde and was clad in a dark pair of jeans and a plain, black hoodie.

Harry looked over at her and smirked. "Well, can you blame me?"

"No, you are one sexy piece of ass," She reached over and slapped said ass. "But, seriously, why did you have that faraway look on your face?"

Harry shrugged. "I was just thinking of everything that's happened this summer. I _actually_ don't want to go back to Hogwarts this year. You don't how big that is for me, Emily. Hogwarts has been my home since I was eleven."

"Why is it that you don't want to go back?" Emily had quickly chucked the smart-ass act that she always put on, concerned for her friend. Things had changed drastically for Harry lately. She had hoped that he wanted to go back to Hogwarts, to go back to something familiar and be happy he'd done it. It had taken tons of convincing from Emily to even get him to agree to return.

"This is my home now," was Harry's simple reply. What he said was true, too. He no longer lived at the Dursley's. He had moved in with Emily about a month into summer break.

"Well, we'll only be there a few months and then we can come back here and see everyone." She gave him a small smile and then left to go make sure she had everything packed.

Harry turned back to the mirror and looked at the person staring back. No one would have ever guessed it was Harry if he didn't have his scar.

Now, instead of the I-just-got-out-of-bed hairdo, his hair was sexy-messy, thanks to some gel. His right ear was pierced as well as his tongue. Harry had also gotten rid of his horrid glasses for contacts. Around his right bicep was a silver snake that was biting its tail. Harry had also traded in his bum look for clothes that actually fit. Today he was wearing loose, black jeans and a Slipknot hoodie. He was _so _different from when he had last seen his 'friends', they probably wouldn't even recognize him, all the better.

That was another _huge_ change that had happened.

One day, a couple days after he moved in with Emily, he had decided to surprise Ron and Hermione. He took the Knight Bus to about five minutes away from the Burrow and put on his Invisibility Cloak. He quickly walked to the Burrow and found the kitchen door open. He slipped inside to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny eating dinner. Their dinner conversation topic: him.

He had stayed and listened to what they were saying in disbelief.

"_Ron, dear, Professor Dumbledore thinks it would be best if we invited Potter to stay here for the rest of the summer." Mrs. Weasley said to her son from across the table._

_A look of distain crossed Ron's face. "Do we have to, mum? I don't really feel like putting up with his 'complaints' about his scar yet."_

_Molly gave him an understanding look. "I know, dear, but Albus thinks that it's for the best that we keep up appearances for a little while later.. Potter sees us as family and who knew how he would react if we only put up with his attention seeking antics because Albus asks us to. The Headmaster keeps waiting for the 'right moment' to tell Potter, whenever that is."_

"_I, for one, hope it's soon. If I have to help him after another one of his 'nightmares' I'll scream." Hermione spoke up._

_Harry didn't wait to hear what Ginny was about to say. He ran from the door and summoned the Knight Bus._

Harry tore himself out of the painful memory and walked out of the bathroom.

A/N: Please review. Tell me if you like the changes, or if this is your first time reading it, if you liked it.


	2. Get Stoned

A/N: Just so you know, music lyrics will be in here a lot.

Chapter Two: Get Stoned

Harry heaved his trunk into the rack and plopped down on the seat below it. Emily sat down next to him.

"When do you think they'll get here?" Emily asked as she looked out the window, seeing an empty platform.

"Well, there's still about an hour until _anyone_ gets here, so probably about that." Harry snapped. He wasn't very happy with Emily's idea to come an hour early, just so they could sit in the Slytherins' compartment. Emily thought that they should get to know their future housemates. That however was just her excuse. Why she really made him come early was that she wanted to see the guy Harry had been lusting after for a while.

"No need to snappy, I was merely asking,"

"Yeah, well I don't really need to start my year off with a fight with the Slytherins. They _will_ be pissed that we're in their compartment and they _will not_ just leave."

"That's the point, my dear. I think that you don't want to do this because you will be in close proximity with your lover boy and you'll have to contain yourself from pouncing on him for like a bajillion hours," Emily smiled, knowing she was pissing him off. Harry glared at her and turned his attention to the window. "Aww, come on Har, you know I'm just teasing you!"

"Well, it's getting annoying!" Harry growled. Emily smirked.

Harry just rolled his eyes. It was annoying, but expected. It wasn't like he hadn't done the same thing to her earlier in the summer. He was just glad that Emily wasn't taking it as far as he did. Thinking back on his teasing about Mike, a summer crush of Emily's, he huffed and looked at his friend. "We're going be in here for about an hour, what do you want to do?" Harry looked around the compartment with distain. He really wasn't looking forward to the train ride, what with sharing it with the Slytherins.

"Umm…" Emily thought for a moment. "Monopoly!" a huge smile appeared on her face and she began swaying back and forth with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Monopoly?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, it takes like forever to finish."

"No, let's think of something else." Harry was sick of Monopoly. Emily made him and their friends play it about three times in a row after she had found it in their friend's attic. He'd be happy if he wasn't forced to play it in the next couple of months.

"Uhh, _fine_," Emily stopped rocking and started to think of stuff they could possibly do in their compartment

After a minute of going through all the games he'd learned recently, Harry thought of something. "Cards?"

"Oh my god, why didn't we think of that like right away?" Emily jumped up from her seat and went to look through her bag. She pulled out a deck of cards and threw it at Harry. She returned to her search and surfaced with two big bags of Skittles. Harry gave her a questioning look. "To bet with,"

"Oh," Harry said feeling slightly stupid. Emily usually insisted on using something different than the actual money when their friends got together for poker night. It usually was food. Harry didn't mind, he liked to nibble at his pile. Emily sat down and handed Harry a bag.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

About an hour later, they had stopped playing cards and Harry had eaten almost his entire bag of Skittles.

"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked. He was lying next to Emily on the floor of their compartment, staring at the ceiling.

"This is why I hate long train, car, and plane trips; you get bored like an hour in."

"It _was _your idea to come early," Harry reminded her.

"Shut up, tubby," Emily glared at him without any real bite.

"Well, since it was your genius idea that got us here an hour early, think of something to do." Harry said as he got up and stood by the window.

Harry looked out at the families that were hugging and saying their goodbyes. He felt a pang in his chest. It was times like these that he wished he had never found out the truth about the Weasleys. They were the closet thing he had ever had to a family. He started to think of some of the good times with the Weasley's, but they were soon shoved away.

_The only reason that you have those memories is because Dumbledore told them to be his 'family'. To them you are nothing more than a way to get noticed and a way to please Dumbledore. You mean NOTHING to them! _He forcefully reminded himself. He had been telling himself that since he found out, but no matter how many times he told himself, it still hurt.

"Yo, Har!" Emily shouted.

Harry jumped out of his trance. "Why did you yell?"

"I've been calling your name for like ever. You kinda spaced on me, buddy. I found something to do." She held up a small plastic bag and a pack or rolling paper.

Harry chuckled and thought back to other times Emily had offerd this. "Is this always your thing to do when you're bored?"

"No, I often play strip poker, but since it's just us and then there's that whole gay thing, I don't think it'd be as fun. Unless, of course, you want to be half naked when lover boy comes in here, then it can be totally arranged." Emily smiled at him with an innocent expression.

Harry rolled his eyes. He resumed his seat next to Emily and he watched as she took the weed out of the baggie and rolled a joint. She lit it and passed it to him.

That was also something that had changed this summer; he began smoking weed and cigarettes. He hit it and passed it back to Emily.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? What if we get caught?" Harry said as he glanced nervously at the window, thinking of all the people that were on the train. He had always been really paranoid.

"Oh, shut up! Who the fuck is here to bust us? Do you see any Aurors?" Emily said through filled lungs.

"I know, but still." Harry said as he took the joint back.

"Well, please keep the paranoia to yourself because you will kill my high." Harry offered the joint and she took it.

Harry glanced one more time at the window. He suppressed his nerves and sighed. "You're right, but still. Now pass that."

"Who said I was done with that?" Emily said as she crossed her arms and scowled at him playfully.

"Me," he said haughtily.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

About twenty minutes later Harry and Emily were done smoking and were stoned out of their minds.

"You know what song I have stuck in my head?" Emily said out of nowhere.

"No, I don't," Harry replied matter-of-factly. He really didn't care, but amused her.

"I was gonna clean my room, but then I got high," Emily sang as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Interesting," Harry deadpanned.

After a few minutes of silence Emily burst out with, "Jeebas, I wish they'd get here!"

"Do you think it was a good idea to get stoned before they got here?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Probably not," Emily answered serenely. "You know what I have stuck in my head now?"

"What, Em?" Harry asked, not particularly caring.

"Get Stoned,"

"Oh, I love that song!

"_**Just hear me ou**__**t" **_Harry began singly very loudly. Emily smiled and joined him.

" _**If it's not perfect I'll perfect it till my heart explodes  
I highly doubt  
I can make it through another of your episodes  
Lashing out  
One of the petty moves you pull before you lose control  
You wear me out  
But it's all right now  
Lets go home and get stoned  
We could end up makin love instead of misery  
Go home and get stoned  
Cause the sex is so much better when you're mad at me-**__**"**_

They were interrupted by a loud voice, "Shut up!"

Harry and Emily's attention was turned to the doorway. Standing there was, as Harry knew, but Emily didn't, Draco Malfoy. Behind him were Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Theodore Nott.

"Excuse you! You just rudely interrupted perfectly beautiful singing!" Emily burst out. She glared at Draco like he had committed a heinous crime.

Draco scoffed. "More like a band of banshees,"

"You're just jealous of our awesome singing talent. But, anyway, what was so important that you had to interrupt us?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"You're in our compartment," Draco said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Well, if you expect us to move, thing again you tow-head. We were here first, but you are welcome to join us." Emily stood up and walked over to her seat and sat down.

Harry just sat there watching Emily's tactics. He was surprised no one had noticed him yet. Not that he was complaining, he was in a non-confrontational mood.

"Who are you; I haven't seen either of you before?" Blaise spoke up. He moved next to Draco.

"I'm Emily, transfer student from America, and you know him." She said and gestured to Harry, who was still on the floor. He got up and returned to his previous seat, across from Emily.

"No, I never-" Blaise began.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway all day, or are you going to sit down?" Emily interrupted.

Draco looked and Blaise who shrugged. They fully came into the compartment, put their things in the racks, and each took a seat.

Harry wondered why they were willing to share their compartment. _Curiosity_, he figured. He honestly didn't care, as long as they didn't start a fight. Harry was too mellow to get into a row with the Slytherins.

"So, who are you?" Draco directed this question at Harry.

"You shall find out in due time." Harry said cryptically and smirked. He and Emily had come up with a plan. He was not going to say who he was until he was revealed at the Sorting. They figured that the Slytherins might not care as much that he was Harry Potter if they got to know him first. Emily had also covered his scar with a concealing charm. _Mighty good plan in my opinion,_ he thought. _Hehe. Mighty good…_ He quietly giggled to himself for a moment and then slightly shook his head. It wouldn't be good if the Slytherins thought he was off his rocker.

"Don't worry; your curiosity will be sated once we get to school. So, far starters, what are your names." Emily jumped right into it. She was anxious to see which one Draco was, although she had an idea.

"I am Draco Malfoy," Draco began. "This is Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Theodore Nott." He pointed to each person respectively.

Emily sent a little glance at Harry. He knew that look. It was the oh-my-fucking-god-what-a-sexy-beast look. Harry just chuckled and shook his head.

"But what I want to know is who he is!" Pansy whined in a high pitched voice. Harry sent her a hateful glare. He really didn't like her. And her voice was killing his mellow state. Not cool in his opinion.

Emily visibly flinched, but she quickly recovered. "I told you this already. You will find that out at school. What his name is really has no importance right now." Emily gritted her teeth. She really couldn't stand 'bubblegum girls', she called them. Bubblegum girls were air-headed, self-obsessed, giggly girls.

Draco was about to say something when the compartment door was thrown open, in the doorway stood Ron and Hermione.

"Did any of you see Pott-" Ron began, but stopped when he saw who was in the compartment. "Come on, Hermione, he may be stupid, but he'd never hang out with-" Ron again stopped mid-sentence. This time it was because of the wand being pointed between his eyes.

A/N: Please review, they really do make my day. )


	3. Getting There in One Piece

Disclaimer: I do not own Harrpy Potter or anything else in the Pooterverse. The only thing in this story that is mine is Emily. No profit is being made from the writing of this story.

Chapter Three: Getting There in One Piece

Harry looked towards the doorway. He saw Weasley and Bitch standing there. He wasn't going to do anything; just merely let them take care of their business and go, because he didn't want to cause any drama… yet. That's what the rational side of his brain was saying, the other one was screaming at him to punish the bastards that had pretended to be his friends and then turned around and told Dumbledore _everything_ that came out of his mouth. He was doing pretty well in listening to the rational side until Weasley started saying his name and something inside of him snapped. He couldn't explain why and he didn't really care. All he knew was that he was pissed.

He leaped out of his seat and pointed his wand at the son of a bitch. He mind was quickly going through all of the spells that he had learned that summer, thinking of the most painful. As the spell he'd chosen was about to pass his lips, Emily jumped out of her seat and ran over to Harry. She snatched the wand out of his hands before he could do anything stupid.

Harry rounded on Emily, intent on getting his wand back. He was furious and intended to vent all of it on the Gryffindors standing in the doorway. He didn't appreciate Emily stepping in and made that clear. "What the fuck are you doing!" he growled at Emily.

"Stopping you from doing something very, very stupid," Emily said in a livid whisper that only Harry could hear. "You just fucked a lot of shit up and now we have to do some serious damage control. I thought you had a better hold on your emotions!" She turned away from Harry and looked at Ron and Hermione. "I suggest you both get out of here." She hissed. The two scared and confused Gryffindors left.

"Well that was certainly interesting." Draco said as he looked at them with a raised brow.

"Yes, it was. And no, you will not find out why he flipped his lid any time soon. That information will not be available until after you find out who he is. So save your breath and don't ask." Emily said coldly. She shot Harry a pissed off glance, tossed Harry his wand and reclaimed her seat. Harry caught the thin piece of wood and kept his head down while following suit.

The Slytherins realized that they wouldn't be getting any information from either of them and moved onto a new topic.

"What year are you both in?" Pansy asked.

"Sixth," Emily and Harry answered at the same time.

"Do you know what houses you'll be in?" Pansy questioned again.

Emily and Harry both smiled at each other. Emily answered, "Yeah, but it's a surprise," she smirked.

Harry turned to Emily. "Do you really think it's a good idea to keep so much from them? Because I think they're going to try to maul the answers out of us."

"Whatever. I don't really care, I like keeping people in the dark about stuff. It gives me an aura of mystery." Emily waved her arms around her, as if showing them her 'aura of mystery'. She laughed and got out of her seat. She reached up to her bag, dug through it for a while and grabbed a pack of cigarettes out. She offered one to Harry, who declined, and lit one up for herself. "Since _someone _killed my high." Emily said, looking pointedly at Harry. He just shrugged. He could really care less. She had more. He was more concerned about his loss of control. He, just as Emily did, thought he had better control over his emotions. If this was going to be the reaction every time he saw his former friends, they were in seriously trouble. He sat and meditated, unaware of the conversation around him.

"Smoking gives you cancer," Theo stated.

"No _really?_" Emily said sarcastically and then took another drag of her cigarette.

"Then why do you do it?" Theo asked again.

"You're going to die, no matter what. So, why deny yourself the simple pleasures in life?" Emily recited. If only she had a penny for every time she had explained the reason she smoked.

"Vampires don't die." it was Theo, yet again.

Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, then, vampires don't have to worry about dieing of cancer, do they?" Theo didn't respond. "Anyone else have a problem that we both smoke?" No one said anything and Emily nodded her head. "So what do you British people do for fun?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The train ride was spent with the Slytherins getting to know Emily and Harry and vice versa. Before they knew it, they had arrived at Hogsmeade. They quickly changed into their uniforms and disembarked the train. They found an empty carriage and rode to the castle. When they got there, Emily and Harry had to wait in the Entrance Hall, so that they could be brought in with the first years.

Emily leaned against the wall, next to the Great Hall doors. "How do you think our new friends will take it?"

Harry knew she was referring to who he really was. "To tell you the truth, I don't really know. All that I can hope for is that they won't kill me in my sleep." was his small attempt at humor. Truth be told, he was scared shitless. Even though he would never admit it, he wanted to be accepted by the Slytherins very badly and he guessed he always had. Harry had always wanted to show off for Draco, always wanted to do his best. At first it was because it proved that he was better than Draco and he had beaten him. After third year, though, it didn't so much have to do with being better than Draco. Suddenly, he couldn't even imagine being seen by Draco as not doing anything but his best. Harry didn't understand it at first, and kept dismissing it as their old rivalry and not wanting to be beaten. But now, he couldn't just pass it off as that, not after spending time with the real Draco. Well, maybe not the _real_ Draco, but not the sneering little bastard he had known for the past five years. Emily saw through his little delusion right from the start, and now he did too. Her had admitted he had feelings for Draco a while ago. _But just physical attraction_, Harry thought, even though a little part of his head was nagging at him telling it was more. This little voice was roughly pushed away.

"Hey, buddy!" Emily said in a louder voice than what was necessary, in Harry's opinion.

"What do you want?!" Harry snapped. He was very confused about his feelings towards his ex-nemesis, and he was unintentionally taking it out on Emily. Harry took a deep breath. "Sorry I snapped, I'm just a little confused about some stuff."

"It's otay, Hawry," Emily said like a three-year-old and gave him a hug.

Harry laughed and hugged her back. "Thanks,"

Emily never got to tell him why she called him because right when they pulled apart, Professor McGonagall came into the Entrance Hall with the first years and spotted the two of them. "What are you two doing in here?" she said as she approached them.

"Well, I'm the transfer student from America," Emily began, but suddenly stopped, cleared her throat, and rubbed her forehead. Harry got the massage and took out his wand and took off the Concealment Charm of his scar. "And, the rules say that any student can request a re-sorting at any time." Emily finished with a small smirk.

McGonagall's attention was immediately turned to Harry, whom she probably hadn't recognized when she first saw him. "M-Mr. Potter, you wish to be r-r-re-sorted?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes, ma'am. I don't believe that Gryffindor House is the right place for me." Harry said, keeping his voice politely cool. He mentally steeled himself for what was coming, the small battle with her and the larger one with Dumbles.

"Are you sure this is a wise decision, Harry?" the Professor asked dubiously.

"Yes, I am sure," Harry's voice had turned from cool to icy and assertive. He didn't appreciate being questioned by Dumbledore's right hand man… woman.

"Alright, please follow the first years in," McGonagall easily complied, caught off guard by Harry's demeanor.

_That was easier than I expected. Hopefully Dumbles will be this easy._ Harry dared to hope.

Harry and Emily waited while McGonagall and the first years passed, then following them into the Great Hall.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"This year we have a transfer student from America attending Hogwarts this year. She is a sixth year and I really hope you make her feel welcome. Ms. Alarice, if you please," Dumbledore had stood and made his little announcement after all the first years had been sorted.

At the mention of her name, Emily looked up from where she had been leaning her head on Harry's shoulder.

Harry prodded her and whispered, "Go get sorted,"

"Oh!" Emily's little light bulb in her head went on. She tiredly walked up to the stool and took the Hat off of it to sit down. She placed the thing on her head. She jumped a little and Harry smiled and knew that she had been surprised when she heard the Hat talking to her, just how he had been.

After a few moments of debate, the Hat visibly took a deep breath and shouted the name of the House in which Emily had been placed.

A/N: Reviews would be fantastic. If you read, please tell me what you think. Even if it's just a 'good job' it'll make me smile. Thank you to everyone who has taken time and reviewed my story. You guys are the bext! )


	4. Stupid Hat

A/N: Well it seems I'm going to have to go over a few things due to a couple reviews I got. There is OOC-ness in here. I don't not want a beta because I don't want criticism. I don't want one because I am _writing this for my enjoyment_ and I think that we all can live with a few grammatical errors that I don't catch. I'm not looking for this to be top notch stuff. This is fanfiction. That means that I can manipulate the characters and events however I want. If you don't like how I change the story or what I make up, don't read it. That also mean that I can make whoever I want become friendsI can put Harry in Slytherin. I can create OCs. I can make Dumbledore into the manipulative bastard I believe him to be. Hell, if I wanted to I could make Voldemort dance around in a pink tutu. It's fan**fiction**. It's not supposed to be exactly like the book. A part of reading fanfiction is having the responsibility to click out of a story that has something in there that you don't like and not bash the writer for writing it. Ok, I'm done. Please enjoy the chapter and _please_ review!!

Chapter Four: Stupid Hat

After a few moments of debate, the Hat visibly took a deep breath and shouted the name of the House in which Emily had been placed. "SLY-" the Hat began and stopped short.

Harry looked at Emily with a puzzled look. She held up a finger and closed her eyes. Harry knew that look; she was trying to do some serious magic.

The brim of the Hat opened again, "GRY-"

Emily's eyes popped open. She ripped the Hat off her head and glared at it. "You listen here, you stupid hat, I'm _NOT_ going into Gryffindor. So don't even think about, you little shit head." Emily growled at the Hat, forgetting that it could hear her thoughts. She shoved the Hat back on her head and closed her eyes again.

Harry was in shock, the Hat never faltered when sorting someone. And it had tried to put Emily in _Gryffindor!_ There couldn't be a worse place for her! If she went there, she wouldn't last ten minutes without hurting someone in frustration. Harry knew that she wouldn't be able to handle the naïve, gullible lions.

Emily's eyes once again flew open, looking straight at Harry and what he saw in those eyes scared him shitless. HE saw pure, raw panic. Emily never showed her emotions that clearly in public. She stormed off the seat, throwing the Hat on the ground. She practically sprinted to Harry, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out of the Great Hall.

Once the doors of the Great Hall had shut, Emily started pacing, tears falling down her face. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" she threw her fist at the wall. "OW!" she then exclaimed, holding her bloodied knuckles.

Harry watched this in confusion, but then walked over to Emily, grabbed her by the shoulders, and turned him to face him. "What the fuck is going on?" he asked Emily calmly, it wouldn't do for both of them to freak out right now. Harry stamped out his panic for Emily's sake. "Calm down and tell me what that all was about."

Emily sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her good hand. "We're totally screwed."

"What do you mean?" Harry didn't really see what the problem was. Yeah, she almost got sorted into Gryffindor, but she had almost made it into Slytherin, as well.

"Okay, there was something over the summer that I didn't tell you about. There was this guy in our apartment lobby and he was magical. Now, I know no big deal, right? But, the freaky thing was when he looked at us, he got real excited like. I saw him a lot after that. I figured it had to do with something totally different, so I didn't really see the need to tell you."

"What did you think it had to do with and why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked her, pissed. They both knew that Dumbledore had people looking for him then.

"That's not the issue right now. What is, however, is that I was wrong and that it was probably one of Dumbledore's guys. Dumbles now probably knows how close we are and is now trying to split us up. He figures that I'm the reason you went away and now want to get resorted. Mind these are all assumptions. But what isn't an assumption is that the Hat had some kind of controlling magic on it, making it want to put me in Gryffindor. That's why it was confused. I think that Dum-" Emily was cut short by the doors flying open.

"What do you think you're doing?!" McGonagall seemed to be the first person to recover from Emily suddenly getting up and leaving with Harry.

"Talking, come on." Emily said really fast and then began running into a corridor, Harry on her heels. She ran into the first room she saw and after waiting for Harry, closed the door and cast strong locking and silencing charms on it.

"So wait, you think Dumbledore is forcing the Hat to put you in Gryffindor? Why don't you just call him out, about using the spell?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but what I think Dumbledore counted on was that the Hat learns from its mistakes. It kept mumbling about how you talked it into putting you in the wrong House and how it screwed shit up. Not its words exactly, but whatever. And I used a really hard, _Dark_ spell to find out that it was even under a spell. We can't let Dumbles know I'm that powerful. But, that doesn't change the fact that we're fucked."

Harry thought for a minute. "Not necessarily,"

"What do you mean, not necessarily?! They want to put me in Gryffindor! Do you want me to lose my mind?!" Emily yelled, waving her arms everywhere.

"Well, I think that, while the Hat is confused, we bargain with Dumbledore. You spend two weeks in Gryffindor and then two weeks in Slytherin. During these four weeks, we work on trying to break the spell the Hat is under. Then you can try the Hat on again and hopefully be sorted into Slytherin. And while your in Gryffindor, give 'em hell in case we can't break the spell, then the Gryffindors won't want you back and will hopefully get the Headmaster to keep you out of their House." Harry smiled at the last part. He ruffled Emily's hair. "It'll be fine. Now let me out of here."

"Wait, Harry?" Emily looked like she had just found out that she would be dying in two days.

"What?" Harry asked cautiously, knowing he was going to get bad news.

"If the spell was on for me, it will be on for you,"

"Oh, shit, you're right…" Harry's eyes widened with panic. No way could he go back there. He wouldn't be able to be around his former friends without losing his mind. He racked his brain, desperate for anything, _anything_, to help him. Suddenly he got an idea. "Wait, you said that the Hat was mumbling about how he made a mistake with me, right?"

"Yeah," answered Emily, not really knowing what that had to do with anything.

"Well, let's hope that the Hat will be able to override the spell knowing that it'll be able to rectify a mistake. Now let me out of here. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're keeping me hostage for naughty purposes." Harry said trying to lighten the mood and forget about the shaky plan.

Emily laughed a small laugh and took off the charms on the door and walked out of the room with Harry, arm in arm.

They totally ignored McGonagall, who was giving her lungs a workout, shouting at them and walked back to the Great Hall. When they got in, the room was full of chatter, but quickly fell silent. Both Harry and Emily walked confidently to the Head Table and approached Dumbledore. People stared at their linked arms. They obviously thought that he and Emily were together. Harry shuddered at the thought.

"Since that possessed Hat doesn't know where to put me, we came up with a solution. I'll spend two weeks in Gryffindor and then two weeks in Slytherin and then try the Hat on again and then we can see if it can make up its mind." Emily said, getting right to the point.

Dumbledore began to think this over. Emily and Harry could both see the fury underneath the thoughtful look in his eyes. They had both become experts on reading people. The fury confirmed Emily's suspicion; Dumbledore had spelled the Hat and was now pissed because it hadn't worked.

Harry looked at Emily and saw that her hand was still bleeding. He poked her in the side and when she looked at him, he pointed to her knuckles. She glanced down and saw that blood was still trickling out of the wounds. She took out her wand and spelled bandages around her hand.

"Hmm… I don't really see the problem in that, but I insist you spend the first two weeks in Slytherin." Dumbledore finally said, not at all happy with this recent development. He'd have to take a look at the spell on the Hat and make sure it worked in four weeks time. Harry _must _return to Gryffindor. How was he supposed to know what Harry was doing while he was in Slytherin?

Emily glanced at Harry, who was just as confused as she was. Why would Dumbledore want her to be in Slytherin first? Emily shrugged. Actually, this was even better, she could now help Harry settle in and she was sure that the Slytherins would be more accepting if she was there. "Deal." was all she said and went to sit at the Slytherin table after wishing Harry luck.

"Now, how can I help you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked pretending to be uninformed that he was getting resorted.

"Headmaster, Mr. Potter requested a resorting," McGonagall said slowly, wondering why he hadn't remembered.

"Oh, yes! Now you are sure that this is what you really want, Mr. Potter? That this is not something that was put into your head by someone else."

Harry looked away, gritted his teeth, and turned back to Dumbledore with a false smile. "That is precisely the reason why I wish to be resorted, _sir_." Harry mocked Dumbledore.

"Please take the Hat and put it on, then." Dumbledore silently fumed. He had a feeling that the Hat wouldn't be very effective, but there wasn't anything he could do that wouldn't give himself away.

Harry walked over to the stool and placed the Hat on his head for the third time in his life.

"_Ahh, Mr. Potter, I see you are back._" The Hat's voice rang in his head.

"_Yeah, yeah, now just put me where I belong._"

Harry then heard quite a lot of muttering. It sounded like the Hat was arguing with itself. It was probably trying to overcome the spell. After a while, the Hat had made its choice.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry smirked and after taking off the Hat, took a seat beside Emily. He hid the immense relief that had come when the Hat overcame the spell. If it hadn't, Harry didn't know what he'd have done. _Probably get thrown into Azkaban for killing the little fuckers in the Lion's Den. _Harry thought seriously as he stared at his plate.

Dumbledore got to his feet, his eyes not their twinkling selves. "Now that the Sorting has ended, let the feast commence!"

Plates filled and the noise level rose as the students dug in to the food presented to them. No one seemed to notice that Dumbledore hadn't given his yearly speech or the fierce gleam in the Headmaster's eyes.

A/N: Please review. I am always motivated to write after reading a nice review. )


	5. Let the Games Begin

**IMPORTANT**** A/N: This is the last chapter where this story will be named Our Choices Define Us. Right before I post chapter six, I will be changing the name to Fixing Past Mistakes. **_I am not following J.K.R.'s timeline. Please read warnings regularly. I'm getting a better feel for the story and they might change._ They haven't yet, but please watch out. Please enjoy the super-long chapter. I didn't like that three chapters all happened in one day so I took the original chapter six and stuck it in here. )

Chapter Five: Let the Games Begin

"_Potter_?" Draco asked his eyes slightly widened with surprise. The entire table was staring at Harry. Harry's name had never been announced to the Hall, but was heard by everyone when Dumbledore was speaking to him.

"Yeah," Harry replied, raising a brow.

"Am I correct in saying that there is a lot to all of this that we don't know?" Blaise asked calmly.

"Yup, but now is not the time or place to talk about it. For now you'll have to live with the fact that a hell of a lot has changed, including Harry. He's no longer the Gryffindor Golden Boy." Emily said firmly. She reached for the potatoes and began eating. The others soon followed suit.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After dinner Harry and Emily let themselves be led to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Not exactly homey, but I like it." Emily said as she looked around the Common Room.

The Common Room was decorated, of course, in black, green, and silver. The couches and arm chairs were black leather with green and silver throw pillows on them. The tables and chairs were made of red mahogany. The room was lit by candlelight, of which there wasn't much. The portraits and tapestries on the walls were of battles between different species, thunderstorms, and dark castles.

"Hasn't changed much," Harry noted with a smirk, waiting for the question.

"When have you ever been here?" Pansy asked nastily.

"Second year, I used the Polyjuice Potion to be Goyle to see if Draco was the heir of Slytherin." He smiled at Draco and sat on the couch nearest to the roaring fireplace. The blonde's eyebrow raised at the use of his first name and the smile. The rest followed him, Emily plopping next to him.

"Where shall we start?" Emily asked, taking charge. For that Harry was glad. His change had not affected his hatred of speaking about himself to a bunch of people. He gave Emily a grateful smile. When no one answered the question she continued. "Well, I'm assuming you guys want to know why Harry's here and not with the Gryffindors." Everyone nodded. "Well, to tell you that, we'd need to tell you a whole bunch of shit that we really can't tell in one night. So the short version, Dumbledore told the Weasley's to befriend Harry. Being Dumbledore worshipers, they did. When Harry became friends with Granger, Dumbledore invested time in her and convincing her that Harry was an attention-spotlight-seeking bastard and the future Dark Lord. He also convinced her that she and Weasley needed to report to him everything Harry did in order to keep him off the path of darkness." Emily and Harry rolled their eyes. "We basically found all this crap out over the last month of summer plus _a lot_ of other shit. Harry decided to get out from under Dumbledore's thumb, starting by getting away from his soldiers and into his rightful House."

"What other things did you find out?"

"What do you mean 'rightful House'?"

"The other things we discovered aren't something that we're going to go into right now. The Sorting Hat originally wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I fought it, so I ended up in the next best House, Gryffindor." Harry spoke up and answered Blaise and Theo's questions.

"Where are the dorms?" Emily asked, looking around the Common Room.

"Girl's are down the left hallway and the boy's are down the right." Draco answered, nodding his head to the left of them. "The doors all have plaques on them with the owner's names."

"Thanks," Emily acknowledged Draco and got off the couch and went down the left hallway.

"Well, I think I'm going to turn in as well." Harry said hastily. Being around the Slytherins without Emily made him kind of uneasy. She was undoubtedly the mediator between him and the Slytherins. He knew for a fact that he wouldn't be accepted with open arms, and he was right. Harry could feel an underlying sense of caution and not being trusted. They'd been enemies for the past five years, hadn't they?

Harry got up and walked over to the right corridor. As he went down the long hallway, he scanned the plaques. Not only were the names on them, but the year as well. It seemed that the first years were at the beginning of the hallway and went on from there. Harry also noticed that no more than two people shared a room and you only roomed with year mates.

As he neared the end of the hallway, he slowed and began paying attention to the names on the doors. "Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini. Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle." He murmured aloud. The next door belonged to two seventh years, so he turned to his left and he felt a sense of excitement and dread.

_Draco Malfoy, 6th Year_

_Harry Potter, 6th Year_

How did he know that he would be sharing a room with Malfoy? Harry shook his head and opened the door.

The room was very spacious. It had two double beds, two desks with chairs, and two wardrobes. The bed sheets were black and made of what appeared to be silk. The pillows were green and silk as well. The comforter was green with silver accents with the Slytherin crest in the center. The hangings were black.

_The perks of being a Slytherin, _Harry thought as he observed his new room. He noticed a door on the far side of the room. He went over and opened it to see the magnificent bathroom.

It was done in black marble. It contained two sinks, two shower stalls, and a tub to rival the Prefects, with just as many taps. He exited the bathroom and changed into his pajamas. The bed was as soft as a cloud. Yes, he was going to like it here.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Psst… Harry,"

Harry grunted and cracked an eye open. He saw Emily about an inch from his face. "What da ya want?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"Come on! We gotsta go run!" Emily said quietly.

"Now?" Harry groaned. The sun wasn't even up!

"Yes, now. We start earlier here, so we have to run earlier in order to be on time. So up!" She poked him in the ribs.

"Ugh, fine." Harry reluctantly agreed. He did need to keep up with his physical wellness. Besides, Emily wouldn't be able to get up this early forever; she liked to sleep in just as much as he did. So until then, he'd go along with it.

Emily left the room to allow him to change. He got up and shuffled to the bathroom.

He quickly brushed his teeth and threw some cold water on his face to wake him up. He'd shower after running. He put on his running clothes, grabbed his iPod and left his room.

"Finally!" Emily said sarcastically. She got up from the floor and began hopping on the balls of her feet. "Let's go!"

"How can you be so damn happy?" Harry asked bitterly. It was way too early to be that happy. He should be sleeping right now, not going to run in probably freezing weather.

Emily paused her skipping and thought for a moment. "I have no idea. Probably sleep deprivation."

"How can you have trouble falling asleep in beds that comfortable?" Harry asked. It had taken him all of three seconds to succumb to sleep.

"Insomnia doesn't care if you are sleeping on rocks or clouds, it comes when it wants," Harry chuckled. "What's funny?"

"No, it's just you used the same comparison that I did with the beds."

"Riiight," Emily gave him a weird look. "Well, let's go."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After two laps around the lake and a shower, Harry and Emily both went to breakfast ravenous. They sat with their year mates and piled food on their plates.

"Are you both going to eat all that?" Draco asked, slightly disgusted at the amount of food on their plates.

"Hey, you wake up at like five in the morning, run twice around that big ass lake and tell me if you think this is too much food." Emily said and began her meal.

"You both ran around the lake twice?" Blaise asked, astonished. That lake was huge! They both nodded. "You're both mad."

"Nope, just awesomely cool." Emily replied. Harry opted for silence. He really missed Hogwarts food.

A few minutes later Snape came around handing out the schedules. When he reached their group he coldly handed out the pieces of parchment, glared nastily at Harry and moved on.

"Who was that and why did he give Harry the I'd-kill-you-if-I-could look?" Emily asked as she looked at the retreating back of their Head of House.

"That was Professor Snape," was all Harry said. He looked at his schedule and groaned.

"What?" Emily asked as she looked across the table to get a look at Harry's timetable.

"Potions with the Gryffindors first thing," Harry glared at the parchment.

"Aww, it's otay, Harry, we'll blow up their potion and hopefully scar them for life." Emily said with a large grin and turned to her own schedule.

"Is she serious?" Blaise asked in a whisper.

"Probably," Harry replied with a smirk. The thought of the Weasel and Bitch covered in boils was a fine image indeed.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Breakfast soon ended and the Slytherins gathered their things and headed to the dungeons.

"Yay! I love potions!" Emily squealed as she jumped around the corridor.

"Well, Emily, Professor Snape will probably change that. He's a right bastard." Harry said disdainfully.

"Watch it, Potter, that's my godfather you're talking about." Draco growled.

"Hey! No fights on the first day. It wouldn't do to get in the negatives by getting points taken away." Emily said sternly. She was extremely competitive and wasn't about to get behind in the race just because of something so stupid. "Harry has one view of Snape while you, Draco, have another. Let it be and let's go before we're late!" She turned and began walking ahead of everyone.

"Emily, do you know where you're going?" Harry called to Emily, who was quite a ways ahead of them.

"No!" Emily turned and waited with her hands on her hips.

They made it to class just before the door slammed open and the Professor made his entrance.

"Today we will be working on the Blood Replenishing Potion. This is a rather difficult potion to make. I have taken it upon myself to make pairs of everyone in the class, in order to make sure there will be no mishaps," at this Snape looked directly at Harry. "When I call out your name, move to your partner. Zabini, Weasley. Thomas, Nott. Granger, Alarice."

Harry heard Emily swear Snape to hell and back under her breath as she gathered her things and went to the empty seat next to Granger. He gave her a small reassuring smile from across the room. Harry's attention was pulled back to Snape when he heard his name.

"Potter… Malfoy."

_Great_, he thought to himself sarcastically. He looked over at the next bench and saw Malfoy glaring at him, obviously not moving to sit next to Harry. Harry sighed and went over to sit next to his partner. Emily was right. It wouldn't do to get into a fight with Malfoy. It certainly wouldn't help his goal of getting into the Slytherin's pants. He smirked at the thought.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Harry looked at Draco and sat down next to him. He took a deep breath. "Look, I know we haven't exactly been on each other's good side for the past five years. I think it's time we put this childish rivalry behind us, especially now that we share a dorm." Harry said and looked at Draco for any type of reaction.

Draco looked Harry over, as if deciding if Harry was worth making amends with. "Well, if you got into Slytherin and now that you're not Dumbledore's lap dog you can't be so bad."

Harry gave Draco a small smile and stuck out his hand. "Harry Potter,"

"Draco Malfoy," Draco grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. Harry started laughing a little. "What's so funny?" Draco appeared to have gone back to his nasty I-hate-Harry-Potter attitude. Draco believed that Harry was laughing at him.

"Nothing, it's just if someone would have told me I was going to be making friends with Draco Malfoy four months ago, I would have hexed them into next year."

Draco smirked and started the fire under their cauldron.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The rest of the class passed in relative silence. Snape was going around the room, surveying everyone as they completed the final stage.

"What do you call this, Longbottom?" snarled Snape as he looked into Neville and Seamus' cauldron. The potion actually looked pretty good, for once.

"Umm… a Blood Replenishing Potion, sir?" Seamus spoke up quietly and afraid. Gryffindors, as much as they hated Snape, were terrified of him and Seamus was no exception.

"You call this pile of rubbish a potion? Clean it up immediately; you both get a zero for today." Snape sneered down at the silently furious Gryffindors. He was about to move on to the next cauldron when-

"How can you do that?!" Granger had jumped up from her seat and began to rant. "They had a perfectly good potion! You had absolutely no right to give them zeros, you biased pig! You al-"

"That is quite enough, Ms. Granger! Sit down and shut up." Snape was pissed and had a furious blaze in his eyes. He visibly took a deep breath and calmed himself. It wouldn't be very good if he hexed the little bitch into next week. "You will be serving detention with me for the next month for disrespecting a teacher and disrupting the class." He began to walk to the next cauldron. "And one hundred points from Gryffindor." He added as an afterthought.

"One hundred points and a month of detention for pointing out that you favor those slimy snakes and hate everyone else?!" it was now Weasley's turn to have an outburst.

As Snape totally lost his cool and ripped into Weasley, Harry looked over at Emily. He caught her eye and raised an eyebrow. He knew that no matter how unfair Snape was, Weasley and Granger would never do what they just did. They would simply bitch and moan about it the second they walked out the door.

"Great idea, I know." Emily smirked and mouthed. She turned back to Snape, who had returned to his desk after giving Weasley two months of detention and taking another hundred points. Both Granger and Weasley had looks of confusion and fury on their faces and Harry smirked.

_This is way better than boils. Watch out you bastards. This is only the beginning for you two. _Harry thought nastily.

Harry began to pack up his things after taking up his and Draco's potion to Snape. He quickly made his way over to Emily.

"Until we're outside," she murmured. They walked side by side out of the classroom.

As soon as they were out of Gryffindor earshot, "What did you do to them?"

"Oh, just a little spell I picked up." Emily smirked at him. Harry gave Emily a smile and a high five.

"So you're responsible for the little show in Potions today?" Draco had come up alongside them and had apparently caught the last bit of what Emily said.

"Yup, I was just telling Harry that it was just a spell that forces the person to speak their mind."

"But why?" Draco looked at Harry and Emily.

"Wow… He really isn't a bottle blonde." Emily said, looking at Draco in sarcastic awe.

"That wasn't very nice, Em." Harry chastised playfully.

"Pssh, like I care."

"Someone care to fill me in?" Draco did look a little lost.

"Well, I said that you weren't a bottle blonde, which means you dyed or spelled your hair blonde, because you had what Americans call a 'blonde moment'. I'm not sure what British people call it. I say this because back home, and maybe here I don't know, blondes are stereotyped as stupid." Emily said really fast, in one breath.

"Oh, I see," Draco said. He still looked slightly puzzled, but neither Harry nor Emily felt like explaining it again.

They walked for a few minutes in silence until they reached the Grand Staircase.

"Where are you headed?" Draco asked.

"We're both going to Arithmacy, double period." Harry answered.

"You've never been in my class." Draco said, directing this at Harry.

"We went to the Ministry and went to the place where the school people are, you know, the people that gave you your owls-" Emily began.

"O.W.L.s," Harry interrupted.

"Whatever. Well, we told them that Harry wanted to change from Care of Magical Creatures and Divination to Arithmacy and Ancient Runes. They had him take a bunch of tests and he got in. So, yeah." Emily finished as she pulled open the door to their classroom.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After class, Emily dragged Draco and Harry out of the room and into the Great Hall.

"Why were you so eager to get here?" Draco asked as he took his seat. He wasn't all too happy about his arm almost being pulled out of its socket.

"I am one hungry mofo," Emily said with a large smile. She turned down to look at the food in front of her. "Definitely not," She took her wand out and waved it over her plate. On her plate was two big slices of cheese pizza with a large pile of ranch dressing next to them.

Harry looked at the pizza on Emily plate and then at the food on his. "Get me some of that shit." Harry loved his pizza. Emily laughed and conjured some pizza for Harry. "Thanks," Emily nodded.

"What is that?" Blaise, who had joined them a moment ago, asked.

"Pizza, duh." Emily said. She reached under the table and grabbed her book bag. She took out her Arithmacy homework and began working.

Seeing that Emily was not going to clarify, Harry answered Blaise. "It's a Muggle dish. It's basically tomato sauce and melted cheese on a bread crust. Very tasty, espically with ranch dressing."

"I don't see how anything made by Muggles can be appetizing." Draco sneered at the food.

Emily looked up from her work. "Oh, get over yourself, Draco. Just because they don't have magic doesn't mean they're totally incompetent. I suggest you lose the superiority complex you have going. It's rather annoying." Draco was about to protest when Emily held up her hand. "I know you think that you're superior to Muggles and Half-Bloods and that they shouldn't be able to use magic." At this Draco nodded, glad that she got the point. "But I have a question. What would eventually happen if only Purebloods married and had kids?"

"The magic race would be purged of dirty blood." Draco smirked, thinking he had Emily in a corner. Theo and Pansy had joined them and were watching Draco and Emily with Blaise and Harry.

"Wrong! You all would die out because you'd end up screwing your sister. There aren't that many Purebloods left and they're already banging their second cousins. Half- and Muggle-borne are essential to the survival of magic. Now, I know it's not cool that Muggle-borne come here, learn magic, and go back to the Muggle world. But the strong ones would be able to keep magical folk from getting weird deformities by having kids with their close relatives and keep magic strong. Do you know what I'm saying?" Emily finished. She took a bite out of her slice, waiting for Draco to reply.

"I am above Mudbloods in every way." Draco said haughtily. He returned to his meal.

Emily rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself, "Well it's not like I was expecting to get through to him this easy." Harry just shook his head. They'd eventually get though to them. Just not anytime soon.

"Draco's right. Mudbloods shouldn't be here. They taint us." Pansy said, eagerly agreeing with Draco. Harry noticed that she was still the clingy, obsessed pug she was for the past five years.

Harry was relieved to hear the bell ring. He didn't want a fight to break out between his friends. He didn't totally notice that he now thought of the Slytherins as his friends.

A/N: Review, yes? Thank you to everyone that has already taken time to review. I may not reply, but each and every one are appreciated. Grilled cheese for everyone!


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